"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going." 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:1-6 ESV
Among the disciples was one who rarely would say he understood what he did not understand. He was too honest and earnest to stay in the ambiguous. He had to be sure. Expressing his confusion and failure to understand, Thomas said to Jesus, "Lord, where are you going, and how can we know the way?"
Thomas' boldness provokes one of the greatest expressions Jesus ever shared about the name of God. Jesus says to Thomas: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life."
This statement is profound to us but would be even more significant to a Jew hearing for the first time because it encompasses three great concepts from their past, expounding them into a full realization.
Jesus said, "I AM the way"
God said to Moses:
"You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33 You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess." - Deut.5:32-33 ESV
Moses said to the people:
"For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands." - Deut.31:29 ESV
Isaiah had said:
"...And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left." Isa.30:21 ESV
"And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray." Isa.35:8 ESV
The Psalmist's prayer was:
“Teach me thy way, O Lord" - Ps.27:11 ESV)
Jesus said, "I am the Truth"
The Psalmist said:
"Teach me your way, O Lord
that I may walk in your truth;" - Ps.86:11 ESV."I have chosen the way of truth," he said - Ps.119:30
Jesus said: "I am the Life."
The writer of the Proverbs said:
"For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life." - Prov.6:23 ESV
"He who heeds instructions is on the path to life" - Prov.10:17 ESV
And the Psalmist said:
"You make known to me the path of life," - Ps.16:11 ESV
"No one," said Jesus, "comes to the Father except through me." He alone is the way to God. In him alone, we see what God is like; and he alone can lead men into God's presence without fear and shame.
- by Jason Kimberly, Pastor at Church Alive in Albuquerque NM
churchaliveabq.com